Gillingham v Charlton Athletic
Saturday 16th September 2017 … 3pm Kick-Off
Referee: Graham Salisbury (Lancashire)
IntroductionTuesday night saw one of the main promotion contenders visiting the Valley and the performance from Wigan that night showed exactly why they’re one of the bookies favourites to bounce back to the Championship… It was a night where Charlton were barely able to get close to their opponents and granted had certain chances been taken, the night may have been very different yet like the loss to Plymouth its time to see if Charlton have that bounce back mentality as we make the short trip into Kent to face struggling: Gillingham.
The OppositionName: Gillingham |
Manager: Adrian Pennock
League Form: (
P)-7 | (
W)-0 | (
D)-3 | (
L)-4 | (
GS)-5 | (
GC)-11
When you put our Tuesday defeat into perspective against the other teams in this Division you certainly have to be glad not to be a Gillingham fan… It’s been an awful start for Kent’s only representative in the Football League and have yet to record a victory either at home or away this season, in fact you have to go back to the middle April to find when the Gills last kept three points (that’s football points not from speeding offences).
Yet rarely do I give an opinion in the Match Previews as try to remain unbiased yet hope if anything that Gillingham continue to retain the services of Adrian Pennock and Jamie Day… Many Gillingham fans (comments taken from KentOnline) feel as though the owners are preparing for life in League Two. Yet the two men mentioned are characters in Football that I hope retain their positions as having seen their management potential at Welling United both deserve better than this in Football League Management.
In terms of transfers over the summer, the big loss was seeing Bradley Dack making the move to Blackburn Rovers and despite receiving just under £1m for the midfielder no money has been put back into improving the squad with all incomings having joined on a Free Transfer… One of those potentially worth watching over the years is young Striker: Liam Nash who turned down an appearance on ITVs Love Island to join the Kent outfit, last season playing for Maldon & Tiptree, the Striker netted 37-goals last term and despite having yet to open his account this term, hopefully wont take too long to begin his Football League career in earnest.
Charlton Team NewsThe question everyone will be asking this Saturday is whether there will be any chances to a squad of eleven players that have played nearly every minute of the Football League season thus far… It doesn’t help that once again, we’ve been left without squad depth and as we continue to wait on the fitness of Mark Marshall (as he recovers from injury) and Ben Reeves (as he continues his late pre-season regime) it raises the question of who do you bring in.
The obvious debate will surround Ahmed Kashi who was withdrawn for the first time this season, whether that was tactical or forced will remain to be seen yet with Ezri Konsa coming on in his place, that would be the obvious choice if the replacement is forced or not… Karl Robinson yesterday said his players will go to Gillingham as “caged animals”, so whether there will be any changes at all, will remain to be seen right up until 2pm on Saturday afternoon.
Amos
Solly | Bauer | Pearce | Dasilva
Kashi | Forster-Caskey
Holmes | Clarke | Fosu
Magennis
Substitutes Bench: Phillips | Sarr | Konsa | Reeves | Ahearne-Grant | Dodoo | Aribo
PredictionI’ve left the squad alone as think that Robinson won’t want to make any knee jerk reactions to the defeat on Tuesday night and will want to show belief in his squad… Gillingham have to end their poor run eventually and will be up for what they see as their sole Derby match this season, it’ll be a hard fought match and could see the Addicks failing to pick up a win with a draw an unsurprising outcome.
Comments
Don't think Fosu will start.
KR needs to motivate the players after Tuesday.
they have been shit this season and we seem pretty decent so 3-1 us.
But the Addicks chief does not expect anybody to be missing for Saturday’s trip to Gillingham.
“We’ve got one or two knocks,” said Robinson. “We’ve got one or two bruises. Josh is one of those. We’ll see how he reacts.
“A few got little kicks and bruises but nothing that I can see affecting my decision [on team selection].”
Midfielder Ahmed Kashi, who ended 18 months out with an Achilles injury when he returned to first-team action this season, was replaced in the second half in midweek.
The Algerian international has been a fixture of the side this season.
“I took him off earlier because I knew he wouldn’t cope – the frequency of games we have at the moment it is the first time he has done that for two years,” said Robinson. “That is a long time.
“Chris Solly’s knee feels great.”
Ben Reeves is still working his way back to match fitness.
“He has been running this week,” explained Robinson. “His scan came back fine. There is no scar tissue anymore. I’m not saying he’s injured – I’m not saying he is fit.
“He has got a little tiny strain when he came back through not having a condition [missing the summer pre-season fitness schedule as he signed just before the League One campaign started].”
Train to Gillingham for a little liquid refreshment followed by 90 minutes of standing on a temporary scaffold stand getting soaking wet.
3.1 Charlton
COYR
1-1
2-1 to us
"No plan b"
"Stop moaning and get behind the team"
"Paper thin squad"
"Some so called fans want us to lose"
"Gobinson"
"Reeves is class"
From today's press conference, the comment most likely to come back and bite him on the arse is “My players will respond – I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life", although I suppose, when you think about, there's no way he can be wrong - the question is whether they'll respond well or badly to Tuesday's humiliation.
I was also amused by this one - "We have to go there like wounded and caged animals." I don't see how that's gonna help us get 3 points:
My favourite memory of previous trips to Gillingham is when I took my Driving Theory Test there in 1997, scoring an impressive 34/35. I've never seen Charlton win there, couldn't get tickets for the FA Cup embarrassment in 2004 and have witnessed 2 fairly drab 1-1 draws in our most recent visits.
I'm always shocked when I go to Gillingham that a town can exist so close to London but apparently remain completely oblivious to things that us sophisticated folk take for granted, such as the existence of dentists, soap, and foods other than fried chicken and doner kebabs.
Anyway, Gillingham haven't won a game all season and are rock-bottom of the table. Any side with genuine promotion aspirations should be able to comfortably brush aside that calibre of opposition, but our confidence has been knocked and we don't have the depth to make any changes to freshen things up a bit. Underwhelming 1-1.
I have written here ad nauseam that our defence is vulnerable and I can't quite put my finger on why other than a 4231 set up is not as versatile or solid as many think it is .. let's hope that Robinson has some ideas about plugging the leaks ..
I think it's worth trying a 352 formation bringing in Sarr at the expense of da Silva, but that won't happen .. so .. unchanged injury allowing and a win, albeit, not a totally convincing one
Gillingham 0 v CAFC 2
CARD where are you
Solly Bauer Pearce Dasilva
Kashi Forster-Caskey
Fosu Clarke Holmes
Magennis
Phillips, Sarr, Konsa, Aribo, Reeves, Ahearne-Grant, Dodoo
Gillingham 0-3 Charlton Athletic
https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/30221/charlton-athletic-manager-provides-injury-update-ahead-gillingham-match/